Plot twist! This will totally change Emmett's character, and Lacey's, but she's stronger.
Lacey
I've always been far luckier than Emmett. I've always gotten the last cookie from the jar, gotten out of dishes when it was my turn; he had hard work to compensate for his lack of luck, but I just acquired it when needed. I could get what I wanted with a pretty smile and a few crossed fingers, and was always okay with that. Honestly, Emmett didn't really care that I was 'the lucky one' he had control, and he loved it. I was told that luck could never get me very far.
It can, though, and I know that, this once, Emmett would agree with me.
I can barely see my Dad through my tears, but I know he's there. He's one of the people the world passes by, a short, stout Hispanic man. He is mostly nameless, a silent observer to the world. He looks on me with dry, cold hickory eyes.
"Is he coming?" I croak with the voice of a stranger.
"Yes."
My father is emotionless; of course he is, he always is. All the same, he comes and sits next to me, taking my hand in his.
The hospital room is quiet and sterile, but I still hear the beeping of the machine. It is a quiet, barely noticeable noise, but it sounds like a defeating clamor to my ears.
"You didn't tell him." I can't keep the accusation out of my voice. I heard the conversation, heard the way he talked to my brother, like he was a child who didn't deserve knowledge.
"When's Allen coming with Melody?" My father does not meet my gaze, and takes his hand out of my loose grasp.
"That's not the point." A fire burns across my skin, and I wipe the blurs from my eyes. "He should know!"
"He will!" My Dad's voice, raised, brings out the stuffiness of it. "He's coming."
I don't say anything else, but don't offer my hand back. "Allen should be here really soon."
"Good. He's a good man, and you'll need him."
I've never heard my father call Allen a man before, but I've never heard him talk to him either. My father's quiet disdain for Jane and avoidance of Allen has always left an unsettled blockade in my heart, but Emmett doesn't notice it, so I don't bring it up.
I take my Mother's hand now, cold and clammy. Her skin was always warm in livelihood, worn from many pricks of a needle and leather. I can't stand how it feels now, like all the love was taken from it. I know she's alive, but it doesn't feel like it. I have a shallow thought; it should be my father in this bed, my cold father still cold. The world would not miss him, but it already seems darker from loosing my Mother's sun.
My father and I sit in silence, the distance between us actual inches, but with galaxies in-between our thoughts. I am lost in the spirals of my Mother's dark red skin, tracing her hand over and over again, wishing I was paler instead of darker than her. My own skin is such a unmatched graph of wrong turns and splattered paint, but I see that she is perfect.
"Lacey." There is Allen now, and his imperfection and pale skin startles me. He's placing my baby in my arms. She squirms and wiggles, an unaware child, and I set her on my lap. "How is Karon?"
"Not any better."
Allen swears under his breathe, something about 'that-son-of-a', and I am astounded my how much I don't care. "Is Emmett coming?"
I take a glance at my father, but he is frustratingly stoic. "Actually-"
One of the doctors comes in, and he takes a look at my mother's life support system and frowns. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Karon doesn't seem to have very much left in her. We can try to keep her alive, but it would take a lot of work and medication. The accident was very bad, and some of her crucial organs are damaged. I understand that if everyone hasn't said their goodbye's, we can keep the system going, not a problem. Everyone has a preference."
I'm about to say 'no, we need longer' when my father spurts out. "We're ready."
I turn on him, my mother's hand falling to the bedside table with a firm thump. "No! Emmett's not here yet! Let him say goodbye!"
Melody squeals, having been shoved out of my lap. Allen tends to her, picking her up to his shoulders. "Lacey," he whispers.
"This is my choice, Lacey Maria. You may have a child, but that does not make you an adult. You don't have the authority to make this decision, no capability to take this seriously." My heart drops into the artic. He turns to the doctor. "Let her go."
The doctor looks between all of us, but takes an extended look at my mother. "They caught the driver, you know. He's in jail now, and the court case will be soon. He won't be driving again." He looks at us. "It's not a big deal to wait, you know."
I squeeze my Mother's hand, as though that would help. My father is silent, but he nods. The doctor shuts off the machine, and I start crying.
I hear Melody asking Allen, "What wrong wit Mama? Grammie otay?"
Allen responds, and my heart fills with the warmth he has for the daughter that isn't his. "Shh, sweetie. Grammie is sick, and Mama is sad."
I bury my head in my Mother's shirt, my Father's presence looming behind us like a cold black cloud.
"Why did you have to go and die! We didn't need that. We need you." My words are mumbled noise, nonsense lost into the stars of my galaxy. "I'm lost, but so is he! I'm a dandelion in the wind, with no direction. Do you remember that, Mom? Don't you remember that song? I loved that song. But you'll help me find it, oh fire of mine, but I'll help you find it, because I love you."
The machine flat lines, and I run out of luck.
__________________________
Emmett is exactly twenty minutes and thirteen second too late.
He takes a look at my Mother, and cries out in pain, and animal noise that breaks my heart finally into two pieces.
My father does not look away from the window as Emmett rushes to her bedside. He realizes she is dead with one pass of the machine. My brother's tears flow onto the bedside like a thick river, and I cannot settle them, no matter what I do.
lol